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 Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2006 5:56 pm
His eloquence and humanity was not lost on the girl- but rather, it washed over her like the slowly drifting water. She didn't regret staying away from him in those months after Angelina arrived- for, surely, it was yet another case of being true to her emotions, to her soul, in forsaking something so much more obvious- but, at least... she had missed him. Missed that honesty and stoutheartedness. At the heart of him, Ambrose was- noble... if such a word could be used to describe someone with the face of a wolf and the heart of an athlete.
"So eloquent... for a naked man," she said, her heart lightening with her words.
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Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2006 6:06 pm
Ambrose paused, his soliloquy falling flat from his mouth as he realized the clearness of the water as he was sharply reminded of his lack of clothing. He sunk lower again, laughing into the stream as he raised a hand to his face.
"Touche." He chortled. "well... I've been put in my place. "
"But even with the... ah... lack of clothes... it was nice running into you, Emelyn. But I've probably been in here long enough. I should quit while I'm behind before I run into someone else sans clothing." He gave a barking laugh after his wolfish grin.
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Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2006 6:11 pm
"Here... I'll be all genteel-like," she laughed, standing up and covering both her eyes quite pointedly with her palms. "It's been nice to see you, too. ...Well, back when I could see you, that is." She spun in the water, her eyes still dark to the world as she enjoyed the feeling of the disequilibrium.
"Too bad, though..." she said, not knowing whether he'd crawled out of the water yet, so she kept her eyes shut. "It would've been nice to see if wolves can prune in the water..." she laughed.
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Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2006 6:28 pm
Ambrose laughed lightly as he walked back onto the riverbank, pausing to shake before grabbing his dry clothes. Without bringing a towel with him (as he had lacked the foresight to alert him of his watery respite) he dind't have much other choice.
That was it.
He pulled on his shorts first, turning back to her. "It's safe, milady." He teased, his tail swishing with his bemusement. "And... he looked down at his palms. The only skin exposed was the thick pads. "To solve your riddle... it appears not."
He peered over at her. "You'll have to let me know whether or not hedgehogs do." He winked and plucked his shirt from the branch. "Next time!"
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Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2006 6:35 pm
"Ah! Cheeky little wolf," she said to herself- her voice aghast but her entire self quite amused as she watched him go. And as he disappeared, back on his way to what Emelyn assumed was civilization, she thought... what a great friend he was, a great man.
"Too bad he's got such awful taste in women," Emelyn said to herself before taking a deep breath and popping her head beneath the water. ...And she wasn't being self-deprciating.
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Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2006 7:01 pm
New RP
It had been a full week since Nita had arrived on the island. She had already had several pretty drastic changes of mood, and was currently trying to quiet the myriad thoughts that had been distracting her. Instead of wandering around the village, or lying out on the beach (where she might easily run into Zach again), Nita chose to follow a small stream that trickled past.
The stream deepened and widened, eventually becoming a respectably sized river. Nita stuffed her socks into her shoes and hung them around her neck by the laces, enjoying the coolness of damp soil under her feet. She watched the ground carefully for sharp sticks or rocks, lulled by the soft sounds of the water.
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Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2006 7:04 pm
Emelyn burst up through the water, gasping for breath- and facing- not entirely away from the newcomer, but enough that, with her eyes still closed against the droplets of water that sat on her lids, and her torso at 3/4ths profile to her, Emelyn would still believe that she was alone.
She ran her hands up through the mass of proto-spines that could not reasonably be called hair anymore, then scraped at her eyes with the sides of her hands. Em had been underwater for far too long- especially since she'd never been able to hold her breath for very long.
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Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2006 7:14 pm
A sudden splash distracted Nita, who whirled around just in time to see Emelyn emerge from the depths of the river. "Oh!" she gasped, nearly stumbling over her own feet. "Emelyn..?" she asked tentatively, approaching the water's edge. "Are.. are you alright?"
Nita set her shoes down on a dry patch of grass and rolled up her jeans to just below her knees, ready to help Em to the bank, should she need it. She sincerely hoped the hedgehog girl hadn't just been about to drown.
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Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2006 7:21 pm
Em's torso jerked around, so startled was she to hear someone calling her name.
"Nita!" She said, the name fresh on her memory. It hadn't been that long since she'd met the girl. "I'm just fine... I was just underwater a little too long." She tread where she was, moving slowly into the slightly deeper slope of the river. It was just a tributary here, but there were still a few edges where you couldn't touch the bottom.
Emelyn looked the girl up and down, kicking against the gentle current to propel her forward. "How have you been?"
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Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2006 7:30 pm
"Ack!" Nita squeaked, in turn surprised by Em's startlement. "Good, just making sure I wasn't about to have to haul you out because," she grinned, "I'm not that good a swimmer!"
The ripply water looked wonderfully cool, and not moving so quickly that the pebbly bottom was obscured. Nita waded in up to her shins, sighing happily. She leaned down to wet her hands and rub water on her face and arms. The fair-skinned girl was still unused to the constant heat and humidity of the island.
"I've been... alright, mostly. Thinking a lot, and reading."
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Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2006 7:40 pm
Em nodded. "They've got a good library there in the village. ...I'll give them that." She said it both to ease the girl's mind somewhat about her predicament without painting a perfect picture of the island... and to let her know that the library existed, if she'd not known about it before. She could only imagine what Nita had been thinking about- probably quite troubling things, if her own realization of the island's purpose was any indicator- but at least she was thinking, letting her mind muse on her predicament- yet escaping this place through books. It was probably too early to know for sure, but Emelyn had an idea that, in the long run, Nita would find a way to cope and maybe even thrive here.
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Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2006 7:51 pm
"Do they really? I'll have to check that out some time. I brought quite a few with me, but I'm a fast reader."
A library. That was reassuring, Nita thought. At least someone around here had their priorities in order!
Nita had a tendency to dive into her books, escaping into other worlds, a tendency which had gotten her into trouble in the past. Mostly, however, reading was a refuge for her, a temporary way to forget her own problems. It was when her immersion became not-so-temporary that problems occurred.
"How about you? Do you.. stay out here?" Nita had noticed that Em was wearing the same thing she'd had on the last time they'd met, plus the basket Emelyn had had on the beach.
The warm sun beat down on her, tempting Nita to plunge into the water, but she didn't want to get her clothes wet, and her modesty kept her from stripping down.
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Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2006 7:59 pm
"Oh, didn't I tell you last time? I'm sorry." She gave a kick, and let herself be propelled through the water with a gentle ease. "Yes, I've been living out here for months. ...I think since... just after Christmas?" Her eyes tilted up to heaven: had it really been that long since Moreau's last, filthy trick?
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Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2006 8:08 pm
"Really? That's-- wow, that's almost four months!" Nita exclaimed, impressed and a little horrified.
She had never been the outdoorsy type, although she was enjoying being outside on the island. She'd only been camping as a Girl Scout, and a couple of summers at a friend's church camp, where they had been in cabins anyway. Nita did not enjoy feeling dirty, and just the thought of not being able to shower regularly gave her the creeps.
"Why?" she asked, perplexed. "I can understand camping out for a few days, for fun..." (Although she probably never would), "but why so long?"
A few feet away, a grey boulder sat squatly, just the right size and distance from the water for a small girl to perch on. Nita settled herself, feet dangling a few inches above the surface of the river.
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Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2006 8:18 pm
"Weeell.." Em said, tipping back into a float, thinking that she really ought to come up with a more succinct explanation of her 'sabbatical' one of these days. "I don't know if anyone has told you yet... but a few months ago, Moreau decided to do some sort of experiment... and he locked us all out of the duplexes and out of the little phony civilization he'd built. We were forced to live out here for... oh... at least a month. It could have been more."
She stretched out in the water, putting her arms above her head summarily, then back to her sides. "The others would know the time. They went back to the village after he opened it back up. The would have learned the date, looked at their calendars. ...Gotten back to their 'lives'. I decided not to go back." She looked over to where Nita sat. "After he made such a point that he could take away our comfort... I couldn't just crawl back to his village and prove his point that we were under his control. So I stayed out here. My choice. That one less thing that he can take away. ...Aren't you coming in? The water's fine."
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